Arizona's changed man

At coach's prompting, Stoudamire puts on happy face--at times

March 06, 2005|By Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News.

The door to the Arizona locker room is closed. Nothing unusual about that. Having lost on the road at Washington, the Wildcats have completed the ritual postgame handshakes. It is time to talk a little about what went wrong, then shower off the sweat of defeat.

This is the standard postgame picture, right? Not exactly. See, all of the Wildcats are not yet inside. In a long, adjacent hallway, star guard Salim Stoudamire stands alone with his frustration. He waits several minutes before at last strolling toward the door, turning the knob and stepping through quietly.

Only a day before, Arizona coach Lute Olson was saying, "The big thing is that he's turned to a positive approach to the game."

This was the explanation for how Stoudamire could roll through the Pacific-10 averaging 20.7 points shooting 55.0 percent from 3-point range. It appears, though, a 5-of-15 shooting effort in a tough loss might have turned him back. Stoudamire declines to speak to reporters once the dressing room opens. Not until three hours have passed does he choose to talk about what happened.

"I wasn't really down on myself," he insists. "I needed my space, to get my head clear.

"Up until this weekend, it's been the best time of my career here. People could tell by me smiling all the time on the court, which I don't do very often."

Olson has worked for four years to squeeze that smile onto Stoudamire's face. He believes Stoudamire's tendency toward self-flagellation makes him less of a player and less of a teammate. Arizona cannot afford a decline in either area. Stoudamire is as important to the Wildcats as any player is to any top team.

In their five losses, he shot 35.4 percent from the field and averaged 13.8 points. Arizona has been unable to make full use of forward Hassan Adams' ability to attack the lane, and center Channing Frye can be contained by physical defenders. Stoudamire must score.

But last December, Olson suspended his most important player for the second time in two seasons, believing Stoudamire's persistent negativity, though aimed at himself, was destructive to the Wildcats.

"When he gets that way, I get depressed just looking at him," Olson says. "And I'm sure his teammates didn't know whether he was upset with them or upset with himself or what."

Last off-season, Olson gave Stoudamire a warning: If his approach did not change, he would not be welcomed back to the team. He could remain on scholarship but not play. It never came to that.

"I talked to a few of the guys," Olson says, "and they said they'd never seen a guy change as much in five months."

Through January and February, Stoudamire was the most dynamic offensive force in Division I. He topped the 20-point mark 10 times. The Wildcats took on the look of a Final Four contender.

"I think a lot of teams have already peaked," Stoudamire says. "I don't think we have. Everybody's not on the same page yet."

When he perceived the change in Stoudamire, Olson converted to promoting him zealously as an All-American. Stoudamire is as difficult to defend as any wing player. Some shooters are more dangerous than their statistics indicate--for instance, Syracuse's Gerry McNamara. In contrast, Stoudamire has incredible numbers but perhaps not the reputation his stats warrant.

"Anybody that's seen him sees that he's changed," Olson says. "People need to give him a chance and not say, `Look at what he was like a year ago.' He has the right to be judged on what is now, rather than what was."

So what is Stoudamire now? Is he the guy who made jumpers and elevated his teammates for nearly two months? Is he the guy who grew so frustrated he twice bumped Washington's Nate Robinson in the closing minutes of a game long since decided?